Nothing gets this MLB player going like college football season

This story was excerpted from Kennedi Landry’s Rangers Beat newsletter, written this week by Zach Sweet. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

MILWAUKEE -- Justin Foscue has a theory.

Actually, scratch that. He says he has proof.

“I play better during college football season.”

Foscue first offered that assessment casually Friday afternoon in Milwaukee, two days before the Rangers wrapped up their series against the Brewers and one day before the start of the college football season. The sport came up, as it tends to do around Foscue, and the Mississippi State product mentioned that something about this time of year seems to bring out the best in him at the plate.

Two days later, when reminded of the comment, Foscue doubled down.

“No, really,” he said. “Look up the stats. I do.”

So, naturally, I did.

In 2021, Foscue posted an .876 OPS over 13 games with Double-A Frisco after college football season began. A year later, that number was .905 over 20 games. In 2023, he produced a 1.000 OPS over 27 games with Triple-A Round Rock. And in 2025? An .805 OPS over 25 games.

Coincidence?

Maybe.

Foscue, though, has an explanation that goes much deeper than spending Saturdays checking SEC scores.

Baseball has a way of consuming people. There is always another swing to dissect, another pitch to reconsider, another 0-for-4 to carry home from the ballpark. And for Foscue, a self-described perfectionist, learning when not to think about baseball has become almost as important as knowing when to think about it.

That’s where football comes in.

“It gives me something else to think about,” Foscue said. “Instead of going home and thinking about every at-bat or what I did wrong, I can watch football. I can follow college football. It helps me get away from the game a little bit.”

Not away from the work. Away from the noise.

There’s an important distinction.

Foscue isn't checking out from his job once football season arrives. If anything, he believes having somewhere else to direct his attention during his downtime allows him to return to baseball with a clearer mind.

That matters in a sport fundamentally incompatible with perfection.

“You have to accept failure in baseball,” Foscue said. “I’ve been a perfectionist my whole life, and you just can’t be perfect in this game. Once you learn to accept that, I think you become a better player.”

There may be no better example than Foscue's own journey.

The Rangers selected him 14th overall out of Mississippi State in the 2020 Draft, but his first two tastes of the Majors were brief. He appeared in 15 games in 2024 and four in '25 before injuries elsewhere on Texas' roster finally created an extended opportunity this season.

Foscue has made something of it.

The 27-year-old entered September having played 79 games and accumulated 180 at-bats, slashing .261/.327/.494 with an .821 OPS -- including his 10th home run on Monday night.

And now, right on schedule, football is back.

For Foscue, that means Mississippi State football. It also means Alabama.

Growing up in Huntsville, Ala., Foscue was a Crimson Tide fan long before he became a Bulldog. And years of watching Alabama meant years of listening to Nick Saban.

That part stuck, too.

“I listen to Saban all the time,” Foscue said. “There are so many things you can take from him, not even just in sports, but in life. The routines, the way he talks about success and how you approach things every day -- there’s a lot I’ve taken from that.”

Routine resonates particularly strongly with Foscue. Baseball asks players to perform virtually every day for six months, and Saban's relentless emphasis on process over results translates rather neatly to a sport where yesterday's four-hit game means nothing when you step into the box tomorrow.

But football provides something else during a baseball season: conversation.

Walk through a Major League clubhouse on a fall Saturday or Sunday and televisions inevitably find football. Players argue about teams, celebrate alma maters and talk trash about games thousands of miles away.

For Foscue, those conversations matter.

“Football brings guys together,” Foscue said. “You’re watching games together, talking about your teams, giving each other a hard time. It builds camaraderie. And again, you’re not sitting there thinking about baseball every second.”

Maybe that's the real secret.

Foscue isn't claiming college football magically makes his swing better. It doesn't fix mechanics or identify pitches. What it can do is provide a little separation from a game that rarely provides any itself.

And that separation has seemingly treated him pretty well.

So with college football officially underway and September baseball arriving, Foscue has his games to play -- and plenty of others to watch.

If history is any indication, the Rangers might not mind that one bit.